LASER CUTTING BLANKS

Has anyone here had experience with having blanks laser cut? Does it decarb the profile? Does it work equally well with all steels? ie 5160, 1095, ATS-34, 440-C. Has anyone used Admiral Steel for this? Thanks,



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Ron Ruppé
http://www.ruppe.com

[This message has been edited by Ruppe (edited 12 December 1998).]
 
G

gregj62

Joined
Oct 4, 1998
Messages
418
I have not used them yet, was hopeing somebody else would try them out first.( that's why I put them on the links)
 
I requested a quote 2 days ago, but haven't heard from them yet. I will give them a try if cheap enough.

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Ron Ruppé
http://www.ruppe.com
 
I have seen Admiral steels laser cutting, and unless they have changed their process I wouldnt reccomend it. The blades I saw had a ragged edge and quite a HAZ (heat affected zone) that was hard as could be. A lot of cleanup was required! I have seen other laser cut blades that were much better, and Admiral may have got their process down better.....ask for a sample.

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www.simonichknives.com
 
You got my curiosity. Who did the other blades that you thought were better?

Thanks.

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Ron Ruppé
http://www.ruppe.com
 
Despite the fact that many makers are soing it, IMHO, Laser cutting's not the way to go. You get a heat affected zone that extende inward from the cut edge, and, worse, there may be microcracks that aren't visible without considerable magnification. If you don't grind away ALL of this affected zone, you may have some bad stuff happen later on-like blade failures. Lasers seem OK for Titanium parts, though. You're not going to heat treat them, and the thin kerf you get with a laser can be helpful on liners.

RJ Martin
 
I dont have the info in front of me, but i remember reading an ad in Knives Illustrated or Blade with a company that did "water jet" cutting. This may be a better way to go, seems it would be much cleaner, much less heat stress etc....


 
I thought water cutting was the method of choice. I know that Tom Walz uses this method to cut Talonite, at a very reasonable price, something like $3 a cut. Talonite cannot be heat treated after hot rolling and age hardening (the condition in which it is supplied to consumers).

Also, I know at least one knivemaker, who grinds his own blades, who uses water cutting with great satisfaction on steel blades. Hope this helps, Walt
 
I have been having blades laser cut for several years now - all have been from either 1/8" or 3/16" 1095. I have a local company called "Pickwick" do the cutting and the edge is usually very clean, they are holding to a .030 tolorence and the edge hardening is a very thin line that is easily ground away durring the normal grinding step we do, I am going to give Admiral a shot at this next cutting to see how they compare in price and quality. I will report more when the quotes and work are completed.

My only complaint with Pickwick is they really get into your pocket if you want a small run, I have been cutting between 500 to 800 blades per design when I have them cut to get the cost down to reasonable.

If you need any more info on this drop me a note or add it to the string and I will try to help.

Jim
 
I e-mailed Admiral Steel and they said that there process only hardens about .005" if you can belive them this is not bad at all. Also asked them to carry 420v and 3v said they would if enough people want it.
 
I would not laser cut C.P.M. steels they will have a H.A.Z that will eat belts.

this stuff eats belts soft.

You dont want to cut this stuff with a IR laser.

we have done the research and water with crushed quartz abrasive is the way to go.


Thats how we are doing it.

ED


 
Mad Dog water-cuts his smaller patterns, I think up to 7". I know the Panther has to be totally hand-ground, one factor affecting price.

I doubt I'm telling anybody here anything new, but just in case: simple high carbon steels like 1095 and 5160 can go through as many heat-treat/temper/anneal/repeat cycles as you want without degredation. That's why Himalayan Imports can sell *superb* 5160 Khukris made out of recycled car parts. I think 01 can too to a lesser extent(?), I dunno about the other tool steels like D2 and A2. The high-grade stainlesses like 440C and ATS34 are strictly a "one shot at heat-treating" proposition. That's why I was so pleased with Alan Folts for "cold-grinding" my experimental ATS34 sword with bare hands to control heat buildup on the edge.

Success with lasers and 1095 is therefore no surprise at all. Even if the heat-affected area was a lot bigger you could just re-anneal the whole thing, grind away, heat-treat, etc.

Jim March
 
All steels do not lasercut the same. The higher the chromium (i.e. stainless) the poorer the cut will be. Makes sense doesn't it - as a laser is light and chomium reflects light the edge is not going to be perfectly smooth.

We lasercut a good deal of ATS-34 and 440C and have many satisfied customers. When you are comparing the quality of the cutting job, be sure to compare apples and apples. Don't compare a carbon steel blade cut by one guy to somebody else's stainless blade - its simply not the same.

Waterjet cutting may produce a better result on the high chrome steels - however, on carbon steels the laser edge will be far superior.

Ron, we need to have either a CAD file or a scaled drawing in order to quote.


 
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